Introduction
The ICC World Cup Qualifiers 2018 turned out to be one of the most keenly contested tournaments in recent times. The biggest success of this tournament hosted in Zimbabwe lay in the fact that, none of the matches played were dead rubbers. The fact that each match was equally relevant in deciding the outcome of the tournament, speaks volumes about the improvement in playing standards of the associate nations, as the entire tournament was played in league format, with the only knockout match of the tournament being the Final. In what appeared a roller coaster of a tournament, it was finally the once mighty Windies and the highly impressive Afghans, that managed to book the coveted couple of spots for the ICC World Cup 2019.
Tournament Overview
Scotland, Afghanistan, Nepal, Hong Kong, West Indies, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea and the host nation (Zimbabwe) started off the tournament from 4th March at the Harare Sports Club. The tournament began along expected lines, with the full time ODI teams defeating the associate nations, by significant margins. However, the tournament turned on its head, once one of the pre-tournament favourites, Afghanistan lost their first 3 matches of the competition to Scotland, Hong Kong and Zimbabwe. More surprise sprang up, when the relatively new associate nation like Nepal, managed to defeat the likes of Hong Kong. Finally, it was West Indies, Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland and UAE along with the host nation itself who qualified for the super six stage. In what appeared to be the shocker of the tournament, the UAE defeated Zimbabwe at the Super Six stage to knock them out of contention. It was the Windies and the Afghans who made it through to the final from the Super Six stage and Afghanistan defeated Windies by a comfortable margin of 7 wickets to clinch the title.
Windies & A Fare Share of Fate
It was a matter of embarrassment for the Windies themselves, that the 2 time World Champion had to take part in the World Cup Qualifiers, instead of automatically qualifying for the World Cup. Hence, it was given that the island nation began the tournament as one of the pre tournament favourites to qualify for the world cup. They did begin their campaign by living up to the expectation, by storming through the group stages, undefeated. The first major blip they received were at the hands of Afghanistan, in the first match of the Super Six stage, when they failed to hold their nerve at the tight moments and lost the encounter by 3 wickets. As a result of that loss, the Caribbeans faced a do-or-die encounter in their last Super Six match against Scotland. In what appeared to be a cruel twist of fate for the Scottish, they were stranded in the chase by inclement weather conditions, when they were needing 74 runs to win the match from 15 odd overs. Unfortunately, no further play was possible and they were found 5 runs short of the DLS par score. The Scottish dream to feature in the 10 nation World Cup crashed then & there and the Windies saved themselves from further ignominy.
Afghans & Resurgence
This was perhaps the biggest resurgence shown by a team in a multi team tournament, after the Imran Khan led Pakistan side of 1992. The tournament began with an injury threat for Afghanistan, as their full time regular skipper, Asghar Stanikzai, had to be left out of the starting 11. Rashid Khan, the teenage sensation from Global franchise cricket, was handed over leadership duties, for the initial half of the tournament. The decision backfired big time, as the youngster succumbed to pressure, leading Afghanistan to 3 successive defeats, deteriorating his own bowling figures as well in the process. Then came as what will be regarded as a fairytale comeback in history, for the Asian side, bolstered by the return of their regular captain Stanikzai. Afghanistan raced to 5 successive wins after the 3 losses, with a couple of results of other matches, going their way. In the process they defeated the Windies, UAE, Ireland, Nepal and topped it off with a victory over the Windies again in the finals.
Mr. Forest Steven Whitaker III, the American actor, director & producer, directed a movie called "Rising from the Ashes", which was released as recent as 2012. The movie, which deals with a national cycling team from Rwanda and their success story, at the background of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, received a lot of appreciation from eminent movie critics like Frank Schneck. I won't be surprised, if "Rising from the Ashes-II" is made anytime soon, on the rapid rise of Afghan cricket in the international platform, at the background of war, internal conflicts and unrests in Afghanistan.
A 10 Team World Cup - Not The Way Forward
ICC has received criticism on all quarters for hosting a 10 team world cup, thus almost eliminating any scope for associate teams, to participate in the main event. The reason, that has been cited by ICC, is that, they want to ensure that every match of WC 2019 stays competitive. My perception is, ICC may have just missed a trick here. It needs to be kept in mind, that apart from the top ODI nations like India, South Africa, England, New Zealand, there will be teams like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh etc, who are doing not so well in ODI cricket at the moment. The gulf of playing standard between the teams who could not make it through the qualifiers like Ireland, Zimbabwe, Scotland and the teams like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh are not much. Infact Sri Lanka got thrashed by Zimbabwe, in a bilateral series a year ago. So, the competitiveness would have sustained, even if it was a 14 team world cup. Add to this, the fact that, teams like Australia and Pakistan are going through transition in ODI team combinations, in terms of performance, which make it more probable for the lower ranked ODI teams to stage surprise victories against them. Hopefully, better sense prevails and ICC decides to extend the World Cup to 14 teams, next edition onwards, for further globalisation of the game.
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